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Imperial Government on a question which has been so often and so prominently debated in both Houses of Parliament. I may be a little singular in my view, but as the matter has never come before our local Parliament I should not feel justified in committing the Colony to an opinion on the subject.
Mr. Dodds: A parent could not protect his children.
Mr. Thorburn: He could do so by will.
Mr. Dodds: But that is only so far as his own property is concerned. Children might be entitled to property coming in from other sources and not be able to inherit it.
The President: That is the only point.
Mr. Robinson: I should like to say that in the case of my particular Colony our experience is rather a hard one. Our Legislature has passed a law validating these marriages, but that law has not received Her Majesty’s assent.[1] I wish also to say that I concur in all that has been said by Mr. Adye Douglas. There is a good deal of sentiment, perhaps, connected with this question, but there is a feeling that it is a very great hardship that marriages that are valid in the Colonies should not be fully recognised as such out of the Colonies. In the case of Natal under the Roman-Dutch law of the Colony these marriages were considered as valid; but it has been necessary to introduce legislation to give full effect to them. I know that, practically speaking, very great hardships have occurred in the Colony where those marriages were entered into in former years through their not being recognised as such in this country; and it would be a very great advantage to us in that Colony if Her Majesty’s Government should not
- ↑ One ground of refusal was, that as a prospect existed of a confederation of the South African provinces, it was desirable to postpone questions of this nature for discussion by the Federal Parliament.
